Garmin Limitations on Effectiveness of Custom POIs
Am I using my Nuvi 760 improperly, or is Garmin set up poorly?
We uploaded 250 Custom POIs for our 4th of July trip. The Custom POIs do not display on the screen. Not cool. Because Garmin only displays the next 50 or so, I could not always access what I needed. I also had POIs that we planned to see on our return trip showing up in that list on the first legs of our trip.
The Garmin preloaded POIs are largely worthless to me. When displaying Garmin's so-called "Attractions,"I get tons of art galleries, which I could care less about.
Here's what I feel is needed. Is this available with any other GPS unit or with use of third-party-developed software (or hacks)?
My Wish List:
1. I would like to be able to display my POIs on the screen along with Garmin's.
2. I would like to be able to access my POIs from Garmin's preloaded categories rather than from Extras-Customn POIs as I must do now.
3. I would love to have the option to disable Garmin's POIs and replace them with my own.
Hi,
Still new here myself, however I have so far over 11,000 POI on my Nuvi 265W and all is working just fine.
I would suggest a number of steps,
1/ Save the POI you have on your Nuvi so you can reuse them again later if you want.
The Garmin ones are saved in your Nuvi Drive (F)? /garmin/POI.
They will be .gpi files.
go here http://garmin.gps-data-team.com/poi_manager.php and click on choose file to load the .gpi file on your Nuvi.
After it has loaded it will take you to another screen where you will have the option of saving them in a format you can use again, I would suggest the .csv format.
Click on the CSV button and it will convert your file and then download it to your computer.
You will now have a CSV file where ever you saved it to.
If you have more than 1 .gpi file, do it to them all.
You now need to clean the POI files off your Nuvi.
You can just delete the .gpi files, however i believe it's better to use the POI Loader to do the job.
So, make sure you have the most recent POI Loader from Garmin.
Connect your Nuvi to your PC (or lappy of course) and start POI Loader.
After it has detected your device you will be given the options to either Install new POI's, or to remove the existing ones.
Take the second option and remove existing ones. Just follow the prompts from there.
If you had more than 1 .gpi file, you may need to run it again.
When you have finished, check with Windows Explorer to see that all .gpi's are indeed gone.
Now you need to decide what POI's you want to install on your Nuvi.
They will need to be either CSV or GPX files to suit the Garmin file format.
You can load both sorts of files at the same time.
Sort your files so they are all in the same folder - I have put my in My Documents/POI, but they can go anywhere really.
If you are using csv files I suggest you get the .bmp files to match, these give you the little icons that show on the screen. download from the same source as the POI itself usually.
Note:- the .bmp files must have the exact filename of the .csv file it pairs with, otherwise it won't work.
EG. Airports.csv matches Airports.bmp
I have also found it worthwhile to check the csv files for double ups and faulty records. Just open the csv with Excel and you can sort through them quite easily. this is not necessary, just a comment.
Step 4,
Use POI Loader again to now load all the POI together into 1 harmonious collection onto your Nuvi.
Take option 1 this time Install new POI's.
At the next screen click on the browse button and find where you had all your files you want to load together.
You can use manual or auto install, you would only use manual if you want to setup proximity alerts, believe me you wont want to do that for most POI's.
There you have it.
All your POI's in one collection.
I havent see the limitation to 50 only showing at a time, so cant comment on that, sorry.
In future, if you want to add more POI to your Nuvi, do the same again from step 2 onwards. Keeps it neat and works better.
Another fix is to put the POIs you want for a trip in their own sub-directory on your computer so when POIloader installs them they are grouped together. You cound have different sub-directories for each State, Town, Route, etc etc. You can also double up so they appear in more than one list. They will always appear under custom POIs, but you are allowed 2 layers of sub-directory. I have all my safety stuff under a directory called ZZZSafety so its at the bottom of the list and my favourites under --MyStuff so its at the top. I Then break it down one more layer, so your 1st 50 will will always be relevant.
You can also use a program called Mapsource and plot your route on the computer then upload it to the GPS. I do this everytime I go away so I go through towns that I want to go through.
You can also use a program called Mapsource and plot your route on the computer then upload it to the GPS. I do this everytime I go away so I go through towns that I want to go through.
Mapsource worked fine on my 750 but is incompatable with my 3790LMT.
I use Poi Manager to organise the POI under different categories, and when you install the POI into the Garmin device it appears as separate categories under the Custom POI which works fine for me.
You can import the .csv POI file into Poi Manager or create in the POI yourself on a google map.